Monday, May 9, 2011

America’s Swimming Pool Company-ASP’s CEO and Founder was recently featured in Aqua Magazine as an industry expert discussing the evolution of ASP since it was created. Stewart Vernon discussed creating ASP is 2001, where he doubled annual sales every year for the first three years and reached the million dollar mark by the fourth year. In 2005, Vernon felt that he was ready to take ASP to the next level and expand throughout the U.S. After hiring a franchise attorney, the brand launched as a franchise in 2006 and has grown to 72 territories servicing over 120 cities across the U.S. Despite the economic hurdles, ASP experienced tremendous growth in 2009 and 2010 and that growth is continuing in 2011. Vernon also discussed some of the success that the ASP franchisees experienced including 2010’s Franchisee of the Year, who was given this award at the young age of 25. A portion of the article is included below and you can view the article by clicking here.

The growth of your service franchise, especially in a tough economy, has been phenomenal. How did it happen?

I started the business in 2001. I really stumbled on the pool and spa industry. I had no history with it. I was looking to move to Macon, Ga., and there was a gentleman in town that was looking to retire from a small pool route that he had, and one thing led to another, and I began to realize this was a truly fragmented industry — at least in Macon, at that time.

And I knew that I could provide a higher level of service, and attract customers the old fashioned way. And I knew the barriers to entry and the startup capital needed were low, so I entered the business. I started doing the same thing we do today, the repair and weekly maintenance or renovation of swimming pools.

We doubled sales annually virtually every year for the first three years or so. By our fourth year we were doing over a million dollars in gross revenue, and had five trucks on the road.(Read More)